The ownership and use of computers is ubiquitous. Most businesses and homes have at least one computer that utilizes one of several operating systems such as Windows®, UNIX®, Apple® or LINUX®. Over time, computers have improved exponentially in memory size, speed and capability as operating systems have become larger and more sophisticated. To increase market appeal, manufacturers have enabled their computers to support a large number of peripheral components in case their customers wish to add one or a few of a myriad of available peripheral devices. Operating system designers have thus incorporated a large number of drivers and other software objects required to operate peripherals that may be superfluous to the computing system as it may be configured by the customer.
Historically, conventional computer design has used the host computer's operating system itself to manage the operation of a computer's disk drives and other peripherals. The management of peripherals is a task that is cumulative to the task of running the user applications which is the primary concern of a user. As a result, today's operating systems have become bloated with unnecessary peripheral drivers, data management instructions and house keeping routines such as disk operation, defragmentation and disk clean-up. Operating systems are also used to manage pagefiles, block files and as a platform used to coordinate antivirus protection. The greater functionality of ever more sophisticated and larger operating systems has required larger memory devices and faster microprocessors which in turn require more electrical power, overly complex mother boards and generate excessive heat.